How to use Air Drop to Transfer Files between Apple Devices

With AirDrop, you can wirelessly send photos, videos, websites, locations, and more to a nearby iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac.

Turn on AirDrop

iPad or iPhone

Use Control Center to turn AirDrop on or off and control whom you can share content with.

Swipe up from the bottom of your screen to open Control Center.

Tap AirDrop.

Choose one of these options:

Off: Turns off AirDrop.

Contacts Only: Only your contacts can see your device.

Everyone: All nearby iOS devices using AirDrop can see your device (you will be able to approve the drop before the file transfers).

Both devices should turn on AirDrop in order to transfer files.

Mac

Choose Go > AirDrop from the menu bar in the Finder or select AirDrop in the sidebar of a Finder window. An AirDrop window opens. If Bluetooth or Wi-Fi is turned off, you’ll see a button to turn it on. AirDrop turns on automatically when Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are on.

To receive files from everyone instead of only those in your Contacts app, you can use the “Allow me to be discovered by” setting at the bottom of the AirDrop window.

Share with AirDrop

Tap the content you want to share. Then tap Share or . Depending on the app, you might be able to select other items to share.

Then tap the name of a nearby AirDrop user or the Apple device name.

If you’re sharing Contacts Only and can’t find a nearby user, check that both of you are signed in to iCloud. If you still can’t find a nearby user, consider setting AirDrop to Everyone. You might also need to turn off Personal Hotspot on one or both devices.

The other user will receive an alert with a preview of the content you want to share, and can either accept or decline. If the other user accepts, they’ll get the content in the app you sent it from. For example, photos will appear in the Photos app and websites will open in Safari.